Current EGGS and LARVAE

If you are a beginner and need information on rearing from small caterpillars, or hatching out pupae, please order the All Colour Paperback BUTTERFLIES. INSTRUCTIONS ARE NOT SENT WITH EACH SPECIES, you need to acquire basic skills and this book is a simple way of doing so.

UK addresses: these larvae are bred in Holland. Express courier MUST be used. Please order XXP which arrives usually next day instead of a week or more in the post, which puts the larvae at severe risk. See XXP on this website. XXP is also mandatory for international orders. We are sorry we cannot send to S. Europe (Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal and other hot destinations)

If orders for UK delivery are ordered without Express courier, the order will be pended until XXP is ordered. Search XXP on this site.

We have seldom been able to list Morpho larvae before. Morpho larvae will usually eat Calathea, a generally available pot plant in a variety of species. The European foodplants tried so far with success are Salix (Willows and Sallows), of which there are a number of species, not all of which will succeed. Our breeder is currently using Willow to rear his larvae. Also False Acacia Robinia pseudacacia, Clover, Laburnum, Peanut and Wisteria. We don't guarantee any of the foodplants, but here is a chance to learn by experience!

Some warmth is required, about 25-30 degrees. The larvae are fast growing. Young larvae have an interesting black ruff around the head. They are highly colourful and patterned in Burgundy and yellow, with decorative tufts of hair.

Years ago we planted a stick that was floating down a river in Wiltshire.That was in 1954! It grew – rapidly – producing a wealth of leaves.We tried it as a foodplant and discovered that not only did British species do well on it, but exotic silkmoth larvae as well.

This stick was the daddy of hosts of willow thickets that we have established in Dorset, Cornwall and in France.

Osier is Basket Willow, the flexible essential for basket weaving. It makes a wonderful woven hedge. It can form living sculptures. Winter or summer, Osier makes wonderful screens and windbreaks. Cover for wildlife and game. Osier is grown as a crop for energy production. In short it is a blessing to the environment, and very pleasant on the eye in landscaping schemes.

We are offering a bunch of 10 cuttings for you to try not only as probably the most universal foodplant for larvae, but a great addition to your garden and grounds.

Probably the easiest cuttings to strike and grow. You simply push them into the ground, during autumn or spring. Leaves will appear within the first fortnight if planted in spring, roots quickly follow. In the first year they will more than double in size. Next year, in normal drought free conditions,you will have a metre or more of growth and lots of foodplant. You may even be able to feed some in the first year.

You can store cuttings before planting, either in a polythene bag in the fridge, or standing in water. In water they often start to root. It is advisable to plant them before the roots actually burst out of the bark.

This plant is a complete success story – you will be pleased you tried it!

A comprehensive guide - outlining techniques for the breeding and study of butterflies and moths. This book also shows a grand selection of butterflies of every continent. Packed with essential information, colourful pictures and diagrams by the butterfly artist JOYCE BEE. Paperback. 160 pages. 7 x 4". An essential guide for the beginner.

This book went out of print many years ago. WWB bought the entire stock of the English language edition. Stocks have now sold out. There are some used copies, damage or marking mainly on the covers, which does not materially affect the content. Even these are now down to rather few copies.

No trouble to look after. Keep at room temperature in a simple cage. Netting sides are better than plastic or glass. Foodplants: Privet, Ivy and Bramble. They will often feed on a variety of other plants. Spray regularly as they welcome moisture. Parthenogenic - all the insects are females. When adult they will lay eggs loose on the bottom of the cage.

All adults of this species are females. They are parthenogenetic, laying fertile eggs without males, which are an extreme rarity. Keep at room temperature in a simple cage. Netting sides are better than plastic or glass. No trouble to look after. Foodplants: Privet, Ivy, Bramble and they will often take other plants. Spray the foodplant and insects regularly as they welcome moisture.

Adults will lay eggs, loose on the bottom of the cage. At room temperature these will usually hatch after about 4 months.

UK addresses: these larvae are bred in Holland. Express courier MUST be used. Please order XXP which arrives usually next day instead of a week or more in the post, which puts the larvae at severe risk. See XXP on this website. XXP is also mandatory for international orders. If orders for UK delivery are ordered without Express courier, the order will be pended until XXP is ordered. Search XXP on this site.

Magnificent and huge butterflies. Usually Caligo memnon or eurylochus. The larvae are fast-growing and eat quite a lot!

The larvae feed on leaves of Banana, Calathea, Canna and Strelitzia. They may take Bamboo, though this is not certain.

Until now it has not been possible to rear silkworms without their natural foodplant Mulberry. Mulberry is often difficult to find but we are now able to offer a very convenient artificial diet that can be used as a substitute food, in any part of the world and at almost any time of the year, providing you can keep the silkworms at 25-28 degrees C. Eggs supplied in November/December will need to be refrigerated for 8-12 weeks before incubation.

The diet is sent as a sachet of powder that is easily prepared in the kitchen. It comes in two sizes that give sufficient food for the entire life of the silkworms, enough for 20 and 50 Silkworms. The powder can be kept for a year or more in a fridge. Made up diet can be refrigerated and kept for some eight weeks. The life of a silkworm kept at the required temperature is about 5 weeks. (If you buy a collection of 6 named races please remember you need food for 6 times the number of eggs bought)

Artificial diet takes a lot less time and trouble than rearing on leaf. More importantly this enables rearing when Mulberry cannot be obtained. Eggs supplied in November - January will need to be refrigerated for 8-12 weeks before incubation. Rearing Silkworms is very educational and suitable for schools and families.

Very attractive insects, easy to keep in a ventilated cage, feeding on Privet. They enjoy a spray most days with tepid water. It is best not to let young children have the insects walking on their hands, because they have a defence mechanism that produces a pungent fluid when they are alarmed. Sometimes an irritant. The insects are otherwise completely harmless. Their appearance in contrasting black and scarlet is an interesting example of colours that warn off predators.

This species comes from just a small area in Peru and are not known from anywhere else. They are very special.

A calm, child-safe species of stick insect that responds to handling easily and will not try to run. It cannot fly and does not spray pungent chemicals. They are night-active, during the day they sit still or are seen in rocking type motion when the air moves around them.

Bramble leaves, Oak and Hawthorn leaves are good food for Zompro’s Stick Insect. It will also accept rose and raspberry leaves. This stick insect species is very easy to keep at warm room temperature around 20 °C to 30 °C with night time temperatures allowed to drop a little. To keep the air humidity up for moulting you must spray their enclosure every day which also allows them to drink from foliage etc.

Zompro’s Stick Insect needs both males and females to reproduce. The males are more slender with a smoother skin growing to 5-6cm living 3-4 Months. Females are larger with broader bodies and can grow to 9-10cm and have wonderful coffee brown and black markings. They will live up to 6 months, producing large numbers of irregular shaped brown eggs dropped to the ground. The eggs take up to 5 Months to hatch, depending on conditions and time of year.

This popular cage has just got even better. Nearly a third larger, and much improved dimensions.

Ideal as a beginner's cage, but also for the busy breeder who wants separate small cages. Excellent as an emerging cage for chrysalides and cocoons, ideal for keeping small numbers of larvae or other insects, when large enough for cage rearing.

This cage is suitable for laying out small numbers of pupae to emerge. Also for rearing smaller numbers of larvae or smaller larvae. Baby larvae should be first reared in plastic rearing containers or kept covered on growing food. Please see the note on the page for plastic rearing containers. This cage will hold small covered pots of plant, and larger sizes of cage are available for larger subjects.

When necessary the netting cover can be slipped off for cleaning or replacement. The Pyjama Mini cage is assembled in minutes and easily packed flat for winter storage. As the interest grows there are larger sizes available. For the experienced breeder the Mini Cage has many uses where a series of smaller cages is needed for separating species and giving different treatment.

A delicate member of the White family, with variable markings and prominent underside veining.The larvae feed on many Cruficerae with a particular liking for Jack by the Hedge Alliaria, Horseradish Armoracia rusticana, Cresses and Mustards.

Very easy to breed. Several generations are possible in a season. Hibernation is in the pupal stage. Keep the pupae cool or in the fridge until April. Lay them out to emerge in May and provide the adults with nectar flowers and stems of the foodplant on which to lay.

Harmless to garden plants (they prefer wild plants), this is a species you can breed to enhance the local countryside.

Egg batches (at least 30 eggs) will be available in May/June. The larvae do well sleeved on Hawthorn (their preferred foodplant), Plum, Blackthorn, Plum or Apple. They live gregariously, spinning a very small and concealed web on the branch, in which they hibernate. Leave the sleeve untouched for the winter. In spring they awake as soon as the buds burst, and begin to grow very quickly. They pupate often collectively, making very brightly coloured, angular pupae which are greenish white, with contrasting markings in black and yellow.